Review of Sepultura - Live in Sao Paulo (2 Disc Set)

It’s hard to believe that Sepultura has been around for over 20 years. Most bands never even come close to reaching that age, and even fewer that do are of the metal persuasion. Passion for the music drives a band to continue, and Brazil’s native sons have that in spades, as evidenced here in this live set recorded at a very special show for the fans in their homeland. I’d be blowing smoke up your ass if I said that they are as awesome and relevant as they were back in the day, but I’d also be lying if I said that everything post-Roots sucked ass. Derrick Green had the unenviable task of filling Max Cavalera’s shoes when the latter left the band in the late 90s, but rather than try to mimic him, Green brought his own style to the table, and the band changed with him – for better or for worse. Unfortunately, this double disc does little to disprove the point that, even if you like the newer stuff, it just can’t hold a candle to the Cavalera era.

Need proof? On disc one, the band goes from Against’s “Choke” to a double shot of Beneath the Remains tracks. It’s like night and freakin’ day – and I LIKE “Choke”! The rest of the disc sandwiches a few more older tracks around the newer “Mindwar”, including a reach way back into the catalog for “Necromancer”, and a guest appearance by Krisiun vocalist Alex Camargo. Disc two kicks off with “Sepulnation”, leading into the Chaos A.D. double-shot of “Refuse/Resist” and “Territory”. Then comes the questionable inclusion of two covers from the Revolusongs EP: Public Enemy’s “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” and U2’s “Bullet the Blue Sky”. There is also another unfortunate sequence that puts “Arise/Dead Embryonic Cells” right before “Come Back Alive”, which is a bit of a drop off energywise. The set ends with an amped up “Roots Bloody Roots”, and the crowd went home happy. While the new material doesn’t stack up well against the old, Derrick Green handles it all admirably, but I still find myself missing Max Cavalera’s grunts.

My first reaction was that the production here totally sucked ass, but as I listen to it again, it’s not as bad. Still not great, mind you. Igor Cavalera’s snare drum sounds like something off a child’s kit, the bass of Paulo and guitars of Green and Andreas Kisser are a bit muffled, and Green tends to overload the mic with his screams. I realize very few live albums have pristine production, but they could have done a better job, at least improving the quality of the mix. As disappointing as it is on CD, its just as much surreal when you watch the DVD counterpart, as the images totally belie the sounds, but that’s a whole other review.

In the end, this is just another live album. If you really like post-Max Cavalera Sepultura, you’ll probably want this for the newer songs and of course to complete your collection. Otherwise, you probably already own Under a Pale Grey Sky, the band’s previous double live set recorded with the previous lineup and chock full of classics, and don’t need this. In a world of No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith and Unleashed in the East, this ranks right in there with the myriad of albums simply titled Live.

Release Details

Sepultura

Live in Sao Paulo (2 Disc Set)

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